


Negotiation Skills and Office Politics

by Turbulent_Muse



Series: Magnusquerade Season Three Speedrun [2]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Do Not Archive, Elias Bouchard more like Elias BASTARD, Gen, Manipulation, Rewrite of Canon Scene, Swearing, Threats of Violence, Vampire AU, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 16:23:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20763356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turbulent_Muse/pseuds/Turbulent_Muse
Summary: More Magnusquerade! Mid-season three.Basira, Jon, and Daisy habe a conversation in the woods. Elias confesses his crimes and offeres Martin, Tim, and Melanie a choice.





	Negotiation Skills and Office Politics

Things weren’t going exactly as Jon intended. He’d been threatened, burned, beaten, and now Detective Toner was going to kill him in the woods.

She had a hand around his throat and he had no idea if she was going to kill him with her bare hands, his own knife, or her teeth.

“Daisy!...Daisy, put him down.”

Oh thank god, Basira was here. But unfortunately she had some trouble convincing Daisy not to kill Jon.

“Just let him go.” Basira pleaded.

“You don’t know what he _is_.”

“I reckon it’s the same thing you are. Or close to it.”

Daisy dropped Jon in shock and he immediately scrambled backwards. Daisy absentmindedly pointed her gun at him and he froze.

“You know about _that_ too?” Daisy sounded sad, almost ashamed.

“Like I said before, you’re not subtle.”

“I…I’m not like him, or the rest of them! He murdered two people, Basira. Maybe more.”

“I didn’t kill Getrude! And Leitner’s death was Elias’ fault!”

“Yeah. Well, he’s on my list too.”

“Wait, Jon, are you saying you _did_ kill that old man?”

“It’s complicated.”

“It’s really not.”

“H-How much do you know about—”

“Stop it!” Daisy yelled. Jon flinched and shut up.

“Daisy!”

“You can’t let him ask you any questions, Basira! That’s how he does it, he _pulls_ information out of you.”

“Well then let's have him do it to Elias.”

“...He’s got his own…He _knows_ things. Would that work?”

“I don’t know. I-I could try.”

“Daisy! This might be our only chance to find out what’s going on.”

“...Alright. But if this doesn’t work you’re still dead.”

“Yeah, yeah. What about Mike?”

“Who? Oh. He’s not going anywhere, sun should take care of him in the morning.”

……

Everyone was there, which, Jon had to admit, would make things easier. If only Elias would get to the point.

“Get to the point.” Daisy practically growled at him.

Elias sighed. “Of course, Detective. So. For the avoidance of any doubt. I killed Gertrude Robinson because she refused to cooperate with my plans. And I am the reason Jon killed Jurgen Leitner, but, if he hadn’t, I would have. He was…an unnecessary complication. Likely to tell Jon too much too early.”

“Bloody hell!”

“Oh no.”

“So-So-S-Sorry, that guy was_ Jugen Leitner_.”

“It was. But before any of you get hung up on that, I believe there is more that Jon wishes me to tell you.”

“_More_?!” Martin cried out incredulously.

“Yes.” Jon hissed. Not taking his eyes off of Elias. It was a noise of pain as much as it was one of anger. Now that he was close to Elias there was a part of him that was screaming at him for even thinking about going against Elias’ wishes, his control. Jon buried that part of himself in an all too shallow grave and tried to focus on the conversation.

“You see, the reason Jon killed Jurgen Leitner was because I had just turned Jon into a vampire.”

“Sorry, _what_?!” Martin exclaimed.

“That’s right, Martin.” Elias continued calmly. “Jon is a vampire and so am I. And all of _you_ are under my thrall.” He smiled, showing off his fangs.

“Under your _what_?!” Tim shouted angrily.

“Tim, you remember when you tried to leave us but had to come back because you started feeling sick.” It wasn’t a question. “What you _don’t_ remember, because I erased your memory of it, is that you were feeling sick due to a lack of ingesting my blood.”

“Oh ugh!” Melanie exclaimed in disgust.

Tim’s face was a mask of pure rage. “I want to kill you.” He snarled.

“No, you don’t.” Elias said matter of factly.

Conflict began to creep into Tim’s expression. “But I should want to. I _want_ to want to.”

“But you can’t. As I said, you are under my thrall. You are all loyal to me, whether you wish to be or not. Unfortunately this does not include Detective Toner, as she herself is also a vampire.”

“Right.” Daisy said and raised her gun. Everyone except Elias and Basira made a noise of panic and stepped back.

“Daisy, stop!” Basira demanded.

“No.”

“Detective, if you kill me you will be seriously hurting, if not killing, everyone else in this room.”

“I don’t care.”

“_What_?!” Martin squeaked.

“Including Basira.” Elias continued.

“_What_?!” Daisy roared.

“When you started investigating Jon I decided I might need some…collateral, for when this inevitably happened. So I tracked down Basira and started...paying her some visits.”

“I don’t remember that.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Bullshit!” Daisy said through clenched teeth, her gun still pointed at Elias. “I’d be able to tell.”

“You haven’t been around Basira for quite some time, Detective, and I can be very subtle.”

“You’re _lying_.”

“Then shoot me. Just squeeze the trigger and watch the only person you care about die screaming. Your last connection to humanity. Do it.”

Daisy sighed defeatedly and lowered her gun. “What do you want?”

“The police are not the only ones that can find a use for your violence. I’m sure there’ll be plenty here for you to do. Feel free to go where you like in the meantime. I’ll be in touch.”

“You piece of—”

“Daisy, it’s…it’s okay. We’ll figure something out.”

“This is insane!” Melanie exclaimed.

“You get used to it.” Tim said flatly.

“Now, as for the rest of you, you have a choice to make.”

“Is it how we want to die? Because—”

“Don’t be so dramatic, Tim. The choice is whether you wish to remain under my control.”

“Um…No?” Martin ventured.

“What’s the other option?” Melanie asked and crossed her arms.

“The other option is to become Jon’s thrall instead.”

“Wha—Me—_What_?” Jon stumbled over the words in his shock.

“Yes, Jon. I believe they will be of no small use to you, at the very least as a source of blood. You must be starving, Jon, have you fed at all since Leitner?”

Jon recoiled in disgust from the memory but his eyes had a predatory sheen to them, a deep _want_.

“Now, please understand, this does not mean you will be free to move against me. You will probably have more freedom with Jon, unless I’ve seriously misjudged him, but Jon will remain under _my_ control.”

“I’ll _what_?!” Jon asked, looking lost and angry at the same time.

“Um…I choose Jon.” Martin interrupted. Tim, Melanie, Daisy, Basira, and Jon all turned to look at him. “W-What? Elias is…he’s evil! Just look at his stupid evil grin!” Elias had indeed been smiling calmly throughout the entire conversation. “And he killed Gertrude! So…if I have to be under someone’s control I want it to be Jon’s.”

Tim sighed. His shoulders slumped in defeat.“I guess you have a point, no matter what we’re going to be stuck as some monster’s slave. There’s nothing we can do about it, apparently. Elias is probably the worse option, though.” The bitterness gradually rose in his voice.

“Now, Tim, you should be glad! You get to have a say in the matter and make this choice of your own free will.”

“Oh, fuck you! Alright, I _definitely_ choose Jon. But,” and he turned to face Jon. “Don’t take this the wrong way, I’m not going to like or trust you.”

“Splendid.” Elias said before Jon had a chance to respond to Tim. “Melanie?”

“No. I’m not choosing him. I’m staying with…with Elias.”

“Melanie! Why?!” Martin exclaimed.

“Because Elias _wants_ us to be under Jon’s control, and if I have enough free will left to not do what Elias wants then I won’t do it! Besides, Jon’s not a saint, he’s still a monster. He killed that old guy!”

“She’s got a point.” Tim agreed. “Not changing my answer though.”

“Yeah, but Elias said that Leitner’s death was _his_ fault.” Martin defended.

Jon couldn’t defend himself, or even decide if he wanted to, he could only stand there with his mouth open in shock, flabbergasted at this entire situation.

“Well, now that all of _that_ is settled, could you all please give Tim, Martin, Jon, and I a moment alone?” Elias entreated. “I need to have a conversation with them about _exactly_ how this is going to work.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Management Skills Regarding Unruly Employees](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23521048) by [CheerfullyMorbid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheerfullyMorbid/pseuds/CheerfullyMorbid)


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